Possession
| rarity = Uncommon | type = Unit Curse | combat_casting_cost = | research_cost = | effects = If a target enemy Normal Unit or Hero fails a Resistance roll at , control of this unit is transferred to the player whose side has cast Possession for as long as it remains in effect. A possessed unit is always destroyed at the end of the battle. }} Possession is an Uncommon Unit Curse of the Realm. For it may be cast on an enemy Normal Unit or Hero during combat. The target gets to make one Resistance roll as a unit, with a penalty of , to avert this curse. If it fails, control of the unit is transferred to the Wizard whose side has cast Possession, and they can now command it as though it was one of their own. At the end of the battle, the unit will be automatically destroyed. Effects Possession warps the very mind of a target enemy Normal Unit or Hero, making them little more than puppets in the hands of the spell's caster. They will fight for them and, if they survive until then, be executed at the end of the battle. Control Exchange When Possession is cast on a target unit, that unit must make a Resistance roll at a penalty of . If it succeeds, then Possession dissipates harmlessly. However, if the unit fails its roll, it will switch sides, and become controlled by the Wizard whose side has cast the spell. They get to move the unit as though it was their own, and make any attacks or use any of the unit's other abilities, if it has any. The unit may now attack its former allies, and they may now attack it as well. It may be worth noting that the penalty is not actually mentioned anywhere in the game's documentation. However, it is demonstrably there, and the spell can affect targets with an effective score of . Unless Possession is dispelled, the unit will remain a part of the caster's army for the remainder of the battle - whereupon it is immediately and automatically destroyed. There is no way to save a Possessed unit from being destroyed - even pulling it out of battle with the spell will not result in it appearing on the overland map after the battle. In this way, Possession is effectively a death sentence, which can only be averted by dispelling it! However, this is not possible in the latest official version of the game due to coding mistakes, meaning that once a unit is afflicted with this Unit Curse, it will always be destroyed one way or another before the battle is finished, regardless of who wins. The only exception occurs if a unit with Regeneration is Possessed by the enemy. In this case, if the unit is killed off, and the battle is won, it will come back as normal. Usage Possession may only be cast during combat. It has a base Casting Cost of , and must always be targeted at an enemy Normal Unit or Hero that is not already under the effect of this curse. The target gets exactly one chance (as a unit) to the effect with a default modifier of , although if Possession is cast by a Hero, this may be improved by Magical Items bearing a enchantment. The curse will last until the end of the battle, until it is dispelled, or until the target unit is destroyed; whichever occurs first. Once Possession is successfully cast on a unit, it will immediately switch sides. If the unit has any Movement Allowance left over from the previous round, it may move, attack, or use any special abilities immediately after falling under this curse. There is no visual indication on the battlefield that the unit is Possessed though. Of course, if it becomes selectable, then the spell did work, and the unit statistics window will also show the icon for the Possession spell. Acquisition As an Uncommon Spell of the Realm, Possession may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least Spellbook. With none, the spell can naturally not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it. The base chance for Possession to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 10% (with book), which gradually increases with the amount of Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of , although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master Retort, or a bookshelf containing or more. Possession may also be selected as a starting spell by players who allocate all of of their picks into books when creating their Wizard. In this case, it will be available for casting as soon as the game begins. In addition, Possession is available as a Hero spell. It is known by Morgana the Witch, although it's worth noting that this feature is bugged in the latest official version of the game, and Possession is one of the few affected spells. This means that Morgana will likely not be able to actually access this spell unless the player installs one of the unofficial patches. Even then, she can't cast it at her initial level either. She needs to become at least a (level 3), become a (level 2) if both of her Random Abilities grant extra , or otherwise equip Magical Items to gain enough to use Possession. Strategy Possession is quite a powerful spell - if it can get through the target's Resistance. Aside from the obvious benefits of adding an extra unit to the caster's force (and reducing the enemy's by the same), it also spells death for the Possessed unit as it will be destroyed by the end of the battle. Naturally, the best targets are strong units with low Resistance scores. Alternatively, it may be worth repeatedly casting Possession on a high-value enemy unit, such as a Hero in the official game. While this doesn't always work, as such units typically have a high , the payoff is usually very significant. On the other hand, Possession is by no means cheap to cast, which should be taken into account when deciding on how to use it. Known Bugs Possession has multiple different bugs, glitches, and exploits in the latest official game version. For starters, the game documentation claims everywhere that this spell only affects Normal Units. Yet, Heroes can not only be targeted, but also successfully afflicted with Possession. Removing it is also a major problem. The effect can only actually be dispelled by its caster - who has no real reason to want to do so. It cannot be removed by the unit's original owner, because it is classified as a hostile effect, which can only be dispelled by a unit's controller. With Possessed units, the caster of the hostile spell becomes the owner of the unit, leading to this illogical situation. At the same time, dispelling Possession is entirely useless regardless, as it does not cause the unit to return to its original owner's control anyway. Finally, Possession completely ignores the 9 units per side limit in battle. That is, it can be cast by a player whose army is already full, resulting in them ultimately having 10 or even more units. However, the game engine can only hold drawing data for 18 units total, which means that if there are ever more, the program will immediately crash. Yet, when summoning in new units, only the side that is doing so is checked, not the total count. Thus, the player whose unit got Possessed will not be prevented from bolstering their ranks back up to 9 units and, should they do so while the other side has more, will cause the game to freeze. Category:Unit Curses Category:Death